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Un Gran Misterio (A Great Mystery)
Having defeated the sinister British American spy Edward Miles, our heroes turn their attention to Colonel Díaz and General Colmenares. First, however, they decide to rest with President Juarez - minus Las Botas Negras and El Rifle. She misses El Cacto and goes off to search for him, whilst El Rifle wants to both keep her safe and make sure she doesn't get up to anything untoward. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either, El Cacto listens to a mariachi band - three of whom refer to their band leader as "Patrón" - and is mesmerised by the music, a sound he is only hearing for the first time. He then decides to change his name from Cacto Diablo to Cacto Patrón and gives three of his fellow cacti - one tall, one short and thick, and one short and thin - the gift of the Fuego Azul, calling his new band of cacti Cacto Patrón y Su Banda de Maricactis. After the heroes have rested, they attend President Juarez's public appointment of Vice President Humberto Figueroa, Simón Bolívar III's replacement. Publicly Juarez praises Figueroa's efforts in other government roles, and he assures the public that the traidores ''will all be put to rout, and thus will begin the Reconquista. He is greeted with enthusiastic shouts of "¡Reconquista!" and "¡Viva Gran Colombia!" At the end of the public speech, only one audience member remains: a tall, beautiful woman with high cheek bones in witches' robes; she seems to have been observing the President's speech dispassionately. Supamaanz and El Tigre de Plata agree to approach her cautiously, whilst El Enigma asks President Juarez whether or not he wishes to include her in the group. Whilst Supamaanz and El Tigre de Plata are speaking to her and finding out her name - she introduces herself as La Mística - El Enigma reads her mind at President Juarez's behest and finds out that she belongs to a secret organisation whose only contact is a shadowy, mysterious figure, but that she has no ill intentions toward the group. La Mística reveals to Supamaanz and El Tigre de Plata that she has no good or ill intentions toward the President or the group - she merely wishes to find out more about what the group are doing and whom they're fighting. Juarez agrees to welcome her to the group provisionally, and he teleports the group just outside Sergeant Muñoz's office has been promoted in light of Sergeant Rojas' betrayal - see [[Traidores (Traitors)]] so El Tigre de Plata can report his findings to his drill sergeant. El Tigre de Plata politely knocks on Muñoz's office door, to which Muñoz replies, "¿Quién es?" (Who is it?) El Tigre de Plata introduces himself and says he's brought El Presidente and some of the band of heroes to discuss what has been accomplished thus far, in addition to the present threat. Muñoz politely ushers the heroes into his office and asks them to sit down. El Tigre de Plata recounts his previous run-ins all episodes from [[Traidores (Traitors)] onward up to this episode] and discusses the threat Colonel Alberto Díaz and General Humberto Colmenares pose in light of the discovery of their sale of arms to British America and their involvement in the most recent plots to kill President Juarez. Muñoz expresses his shock at the corruption existing on such a scale, but he congratulates El Tigre de Plata for his good work in cooperation with Supamaanz and the other heroes and he assures El Tigre de Plata of an early graduation from training camp. El Tigre de Plata thanks him and departs with his heroic company in order to deal with Colmenares and Díaz. Juarez teleports the heroes outside Colmenares' quarters, and Supamaanz knocks on Colmenares' door. Colmenares replies with the customary "¿Quién es?" and Supamaanz identifies himself, along with the group. At Colmenares' behest, Díaz opens the door and bids the heroes to come in (unbeknownst to anyone else, El Enigma creates an illusory projection of herself and remains just outside the door whilst the projection accompanies the remaining heroes inside). In his customary interrogative style, Supamaanz asks Colmenares whether he's heard about the sale of arms to British America and the recent plots to kill President Juarez; Colmenares replies that he's heard of the disgraceful acts and that he's begun investigations to find out who may be responsible. Incensed at such a bold-faced lie, Supamaanz thunders back with "Enough with these lies! You know that you and Colonel Díaz are responsible for these disgraceful acts!" With a defiance and petulance unbecoming of a general, Colmenares stands up and roars, "I will not have such accusations made of me by a meddling officer of lower rank! ''¡Fuera de mi oficina! (Get out of my office!)" At that point Juarez makes his exit in search of Chico, who can ferret out the truth from the minds of these traidores. At the same time, Supamaanz loudly declares that Colmenares wouldn't be acting this way if he weren't guilty, at which point the fighting commences. Ironically enough, La Mística keeps out of the fighting and simply observes. The fight breaks out, and it experiences a few interesting twists and turns. Colmenares shoots Supamaanz in his left shoulder, causing enough pain to elicit an "¡Uyyy!" worthy of the most barbarously injured bulls! Following these developments, El Enigma sneaks in unnoticed as her projection remains up. Díaz attempts to punch El Enigma's projection and fails miserably, causing his back to be turned to El Tigre de Plata. Immediately afterwards, El Tigre de Plata gives him a brutal punch to the kidneys, causing him to double over in extreme pain. Supamaanz then goes after Colmenares, who manages to dodge out of the way just in time. Soon after, Díaz is seen to heal from the intense, crippling punch El Tigre de Plata delivered to him, which causes the heroes much confusion. This confusion is temporarily broken when El Tigre de Plata executes a flying elbow slam all too well, cracking Díaz's spine in just the right place to kill him. Immediately thereafter, El Enigma and her projection both run at Colmenares - who looks at them both, befuddled and uttering "¿Qué?" - and the real El Enigma on Colmenares' left slices him back to front with both blades, and his body separates from the torso upward and collapses to the ground, blood spattered on the floor. Supamaanz congratulates the team (prematurely, as usual), and La Mística walks outside, seeing no need to remain there. As the heroes are discussing the unusual turn of events, Díaz is resurrected and healed, and Colmenares is resurrected and healed but unconscious (Supamaanz takes to putting him to sleep just to make certain, and El Tigre de Plata sits on him just to make sure he causes no more trouble), even despite the heroes' efforts to keep the two halves of Colmenares apart (El Enigma and Supamaanz are pulled along by the two halves of Colmenares' body until they're shaken off and they re-form, the blood returning to Colmenares' body). Díaz then yells at and punches El Tigre de Plata in the nose; the camera goes slow-motion and stroboscopic as the punch approaches and El Tigre de Plata lets out a slow-motion "¡Uy-y-y-y-y-y-y-y!" as he drops on his knees to the ground, nose bleeding. Down but not out, he wastes no time getting his own back by punching Díaz in his family jewels - or so the viewing audience can safely assume, given that this scene is shown from behind Díaz and to the right, and Díaz is shown to double over in immense pain just after El Tigre de Plata's well-timed punch. Hearing the noise and realising that the battle is not yet over, La Mística returns to Colmenares' office to observe further. Having just returned with Chico, President Juarez is stunned by the fact that the fight is continuing; El Enigma explains what happened with Díaz and Colmenares and asks President Juarez to return with seal-able metal containers in order to prevent any further healing, which Juarez agrees to do. Colmenares wakes up and attempts to stab El Tigre de Plata in the Achilles' heel, but El Tigre de Plata sees him coming and grabs the knife from him whilst Supamaanz places his boot on Colmenares' hand. In order to keep Díaz from fighting further, Supamaanz knocks him out and uses a sleep power to keep him unconscious. Chico fails to read Colmenares' mind but manages to read Díaz's mind and discovers that: Díaz is Colmenares' loyal (on the level of a dog to his/her master) right-hand man and enforcer; Colmenares negotiates the arms deals and Díaz supervises the transfers of weapons and money; and Colmenares ordered the assassination of President Juarez, whilst Díaz chose Figueroa (the current Vice-President) to carry out the logistics of the assassination. El Enigma takes this opportunity to respectfully point out to President Juarez that he may wish to be more discerning in appointing staff in future; not wanting anyone to know that he deliberately chose Figueroa for the role in order to put him in a more effective position to be ferreted out, Juarez reluctantly agrees, extolling the virtues Figueroa previously showed and lamenting his own apparent lack of good judgement in these matters. After these stunning revelations, Juarez transports Colmenares, Supamaanz, and El Tigre de Plata to his underground bunker under the Federal Building, this time with plenty of guards surrounding the room (with all doors to the room open) in case any disloyal staff get any bright ideas. Seeing Colmenares trapped and accompanied by Supamaanz, El Tigre de Plata, and President Juarez - and consequently knowing that his own role as a ''traidor ''has been discovered - Vice President Figueroa immediately surrenders and voluntarily sits out of the way of the interrogation he knows will take place. Seeing that he has no way out, Colmenares admits his involvement in the arms deals and in the coordination of the assassination attempt against President Juarez, implicating Figueroa as a would-be assassin. He also admits that he's a minion under the influence of a being from El Mundo del Fuego Azul (The World of the Fuego Azul), known to him as La Voz Sin Rostro (The Faceless Voice), who has been directing him and Díaz to delay the Reconquista efforts in an attempt to maintain the balance of power both on earth and in the Mundo del Fuego Azul. Finally, he warns the assembled heroes that King Juan Gabriel of Spain - which has been recently liberated due to the successful Segunda Reconquista de España against Napoleon III's forces - has his eyes set on the eventual return of Gran Colombia to Spanish control. Supamaanz observes that Spain will be a force to be reckoned with after the ''traidores ''and the threats from El Mundo del Fuego Azul are dealt with. President Juarez asks for Supamaanz's rifle (which he obligingly gives to his Presidente), walks up to Figueroa, and shoots Figueroa in the head, although the rifle's blast and Juarez's stride back toward Supamaanz are all that can be seen. Meanwhile, La Voz Sin Rostro herself (an extremely luminous ball of pure Fuego Azul) appears to El Enigma and La Mística, using her psychic communication power to confess that: she has been the one commanding Díaz and Colmenares in order to keep the Reconquista from happening too soon, otherwise the balance of power on both Earth and El Mundo del Fuego Azul may result in the destruction of both realms; and that she is known to humanity by several other names, among them Coatlicue (Aztec goddess of birth and death) and La Virgen de Guadalupe (The Virgin Mary in Latin American form). She also warns both women that the balance may also be irreparably shifted by certain underground organisations which are working with El Fomento (The Furtherance) - a mysterious set of otherworldly beings with their own agenda. La Mística becomes nervous inside when El Fomento is mentioned, because her underground organisation have had frequent dealings with one of the beings of El Fomento; however, she keeps outwardly calm, but not quite calm enough to fool El Enigma. La Voz Sin Rostro mentions to both that she will be watching and waiting until she is needed next, after which she teleports herself back to El Mundo del Fuego Azul. Soon after, El Enigma turns to La Mística and says in a sly voice, "El Fomento, eh?" La Mística keeps calm and says nothing. El Enigma then slices Díaz up and seals up his various parts in the metal containers President Juarez provided. President Juarez teleports General Colmenares to Federal Prison in Tenochtitlán and then returns with Supamaanz and El Tigre de Plata. The heroes briefly discuss the growing problems with Spain, El Mundo del Fuego Azul, and El Fomento. Their minds are reeling from the shock of it all, realising the full magnitude of the challenges they face... TO BE CONTINUED!